


More Than Warm Fuzzies

by tacewrites



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, casual mention of happenings from episode 17, kyoya has feelings and pretends he doesn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-11-19 17:43:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11318427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacewrites/pseuds/tacewrites
Summary: Kyoya is positive that he has feelings for a certain female host, but he's just as positive that ignoring them is the best decision that he can make.Probably.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guess who decided to write another Kyoya fic? It's me, I'm weak. Watch as I express all my Ouran feelings through this one character. He's observant enough that I can!  
> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy :)

There were certain feelings that just could not be identified, either because they were too complicated to put a name to or because one simply refused to acknowledge them.

In Kyoya’s case, it happened to be the latter.

He begrudgingly acknowledged to himself that there was, in fact, a feeling of some sort, one that he had not felt before in his young life. Up until recently, there hadn’t been a catalyst for it, which had been fine with him. He was too busy to worry about such things, unlike most people his age, who seemed to worry about it _too_ much. Before, it all seemed very distracting to him, as those around him seemed to be unable to talk or think about little else. He couldn’t be bothered.

But now, it seemed that he was right: it was very distracting. He was distracted. And annoyed. He didn’t really have time for this…this unidentified feeling that sometimes kept him up at night thinking about pointless things. And trying not to put a name to the troublesome emotion. That was what he was really concerned about.

He started when a familiar, airy laugh carried across the host club room to where he was standing by himself, and an equally familiar tug in his chest caused him to look up at the source of the sound. Haruhi was busy entertaining her guests, a warm, pleasant look on her face and in her voice causing them to swoon and squeal in delight over whatever they happened to be chatting about. How she was so good at this Kyoya didn’t know, but even he found himself drawn in by her at times when he watched her performance. It was a stark contrast to her true personality, almost humorously so, but it wasn’t quite that funny when Kyoya remembered that he was drawn to that as well, more so than her host persona. Way more.   

This wasn’t the problem. He had no issue with Haruhi as a person. She was a welcome addition to the host club, despite having been forced into it, and did her job just as well as the rest of them. That, of course, could be contributed to the fact that she was trying her best to buy her way out of it, but her motivations didn’t matter, as long as everything ran smoothly. She got along with the rest of the hosts, and was considered by all of them as a friend. Not that Kyoya would admit it; he hardly admitted out loud that the rest of them were his friends. But they were, she was, and he knew it. It was hard not to want to be her friend. She was hardworking, kind, and good. And brutally honest. Often times devastatingly so, depending on who she aimed that honesty at.

From her seat across the room, Haruhi, free from the attention of her guests for a moment as they giddily talked among themselves, looked up and met his eyes, and he realized with a start that he had been staring. She didn’t seem to notice, though, apparently having been seeking his attention anyway. The host club smile she had been wearing transformed into one of her own slightly exasperated looking smiles. She leaned back a little in her chair and tipped her head to the side. The message was clear: _This is exhausting._

A guest walking by looked up at him as he chuckled, but he paid her no mind. Instead, he looked over his shoulder and glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall, then turned back to Haruhi. He shrugged his shoulders. _I’m sure you’ll make it._ She rolled her eyes good naturedly, then straightened up and slipped back into host club mode just as the girls surrounding her focused their attention on her once again. Kyoya chuckled once more, and then felt a warm feeling course through him, starting from his chest.

This was the problem.

Lately, Kyoya had begun to notice this warm feeling coursing through him when he interacted with Haruhi, when she laughed at something he said, or when she sat next to him on the couch and pretended she wasn’t trying to read whatever he was writing in his notebook. Sometimes it happened when he thought about her. And he did find himself thinking about her. Frequently. During host club hours when he was meant to be keeping track of things. In class when he was meant to be listening. At home when he was meant to be studying or working. When he was asleep. Yes, asleep, because apparently she even had to infiltrate his thoughts during his sleeping hours as well as his waking hours.

The first time that happened, he woke up in the morning with a vague memory of deep brown eyes, and could hardly look at the owner of said eyes in real life when he saw her at school a couple of hours later. After that, she was featured much more prominently and frequently in his dreams, always around as either the main focus or a bystander to whatever was happening to him. In both cases, he always woke up thinking of chocolate colored eyes staring into his own. And that damn warm, fuzzy feeling deep in his chest.

The warm fuzzies. Maybe that’s what it was, although he would hardly call it that. As a relatively normal teenage boy he would hardly admit to having the “warm fuzzies” for anything, let alone a cute girl. Yes, Kyoya could admit she was cute, objectively, because he had eyes. The girls mooning over Haruhi at the current moment proved that, as did the ones that stared at her in the hall and giggled and blushed when she acknowledged them, and so did the occasional boy who tripped over himself watching her walk by. Obviously, the host club members all thought so too, or they wouldn’t have let her be a host at all. It was a job, as Tamaki said, for extremely handsome boys, after all.

So if he thought Haruhi was cute, objectively, he wasn’t wrong. Except he knew he’d be lying if he said that that was all there was to it. He thought about her too much, he dreamed of her too often, and he felt too many feelings when she looked at him for it all to be summed up as he found her objectively attractive. No, he wouldn’t call it the warm fuzzies, but perhaps it was just affection or fondness he felt for her. That was acceptable. And safe. He tried not to think it was anything more than that, wouldn’t let it be, for multiple reasons.

One of those reasons, and he tried not to sound like too much of a snob when he gave it, was their difference in social standing. Not that he looked down on Haruhi for being a commoner; he knew her, admired her, and therefore knew she wasn’t a person he could ever look down on. But didn’t people from his world tend to have those _types_ of feelings and associate in _that_ way with others of similar standing, and same from those of Haruhi’s world? He couldn’t be sure, having never had a reason to pay that much attention before now, but wasn’t that expected? That people of higher society make connections with others of the same caliber?

And then there were the expectations from his own family, from his father. Kyoya had grown up knowing that his father expected a lot from him, even if the exact definition of that was vague at best. _Be better than your brothers Kyoya, that’s the only way to impress me._ A seemingly impossible task, as his brothers had quite literally been the best at everything, and how do you beat the best, exactly? Kyoya rose to the challenge anyway in every area of his life. Truthfully, his father had probably only been referring to school and business, as the subject of…affections had never been a part of any conversation between the two of them. Still, his brothers had both ended up married to women from wealthy families, whose connections were financially beneficial to both theirs and the Ootori’s. _Be better than your brothers, Kyoya_. Well, in that case, Kyoya thought wryly, he would have to quite literally end up with the daughter of some ruler from a small kingdom to satisfy that demand. So it most likely wouldn’t be acceptable to be thinking of girls with big, chocolate colored eyes, short brown hair, devastatingly blunt personalities and-

No.

He wouldn’t finish that thought, the one that had been trying to take shape for a while now. He shook his head, trying to clear it away, while simultaneously trying to squash the sudden longing he felt, which often accompanied the feeling of….affection that constantly washed over him whenever she was on his mind. He was met with very little success.

He opened up his notebook, thinking productivity would gain him a better result than mentally kicking himself. His attention to the task lasted only a moment, however, as another familiar noise caused him to look up once again at Haruhi’s spot, where she and her guests were now joined by Hikaru and Kaoru, who were apparently done entertaining their own guests for the day.

Both boys were draped over the back of Haruhi’s chair, Hikaru on the right, Kaoru on the left. The girls surrounding them all seemed especially excited, as hosts interacting was a special occasion for them, but they all seemed relatively quiet, trying not to ruin whatever kind of magical moment they felt they were witnessing. But it wasn’t an elaborate host club scheme, Kyoya realized, as the façade the trio had been putting on for the last hour melted away, and it was just the three of them interacting as they normally did, as friends. Kaoru patted Haruhi’s head in the gentlest way as Hikaru poked at her arm, his eyes communicating a need for something he would never speak aloud. And Haruhi accepted the excessive touching with a laugh, a touch of her own, and then said something that caused the twins to smile, widely and sincerely, the type of smile that Kyoya knew he would have never seen a year ago. Haruhi returned it in equal measure, and Kyoya realized with a pang of sudden jealousy that he wished he was in the twins’ place.

“God, I wish that were me!”

Kyoya jumped, startled, and found Tamaki standing beside him, staring wistfully at the scene before them.

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Kyoya demanded, hoarsely, struck by the fact that he had been thinking the same thing as Tamaki, of all people.

Tamaki fixed him with an incredulous look. He sighed dramatically. “I mean, it isn’t fair that those shady twins get to hang all over my little girl like that. As her _father_ , I should be the one she smiles at, not them! Don’t you think?”

So they weren’t thinking quite the same thing, but it was still concerning.

“Moron,” Kyoya chastised, mostly to the blonde boy beside him.

Tamaki gasped. “Rude, Kyoya, so rude! And hurtful. You wouldn’t understand a father’s feelings anyway…”. He continued muttering to himself as he slunk off to a corner to sulk.

And this was Kyoya’s other reason.

Tamaki was an idiot. He convinced himself from day one that he had some sort of fatherly connection to Haruhi, despite everyone, herself included, telling him that it was the stupidest thing they’d ever heard him say. And he said quite a lot of stupid things. He ignored them all, proclaimed it louder, and went on his merry way. Even though it was weird, it would have been fine if Tamaki truly felt that he was only a mentor to Haruhi and nothing more, but that wasn’t the case. Kyoya knew the boy was in love with her, had been since probably day two, and was simply unable to acknowledge it. It wasn’t obvious to everyone, though the others probably had their suspicions, except for Haruhi, who observed absolutely everything but the feelings that others felt for her. But it was obvious to Kyoya, as Tamaki was his best friend, even though he would never say so out loud. He wanted Tamaki to be happy, and since it had taken Kyoya longer to develop whatever sort of unnamed feelings he had for Haruhi, he refused to acknowledge them. It seemed unfair to consider otherwise.

Kyoya sighed, and then was distracted from his thoughts once more by movement from Haruhi’s area. Tea tray in hand, she was making her way back to the refreshment table, a lingering smile on her face. He heard Hikaru call for her to hurry back, and she turned her head to reply as she kept moving forward. Kyoya noted the contents of the tray balanced precariously at the same moment he noticed that Haruhi, unaware of her surroundings, was disastrously close to running into the corner of a table in her path. Kyoya realized he was halfway to his destination before he ever consciously decided to move.

Haruhi lurched forward as she hit the table. She yelped in surprise, and then watched in horror as the tea pot on her tray tumbled toward the ground. She froze, eyes wide and mouth open, even as Kyoya caught the kettle just before it hit the ground. Bent low enough to reach it, he picked his head up and found himself staring up into her face, closer than he’d ever really been.

“Careful, Haruhi,” he warned her. “We wouldn’t want to add to your debt, now, would we?” He was only half joking.

Haruhi blinked once. Twice. Then the frozen shock melted into something sweeter, and she smiled so wide the corners of her eyes crinkled. “Oh no, we definitely wouldn’t,” she said with a laugh. “Thank you, Kyoya!”

The familiar warmth took root in his chest, but it didn’t stop there. It spread down to his toes and up to his cheeks, and he was pretty sure his face might be on fire. For a moment his heart stuttered, and then it beat quicker, louder, and he was positive Haruhi could hear it, but her face didn’t indicate she could.

Oh god.

He straightened up awkwardly, then held the teapot out to her. “Uh huh,” he replied intelligently.

She reached out to take it, meeting his fingers with her own. Somehow, that burned, too. Setting the pot back on the tray, she looked down at the table pointedly, stepped around it, and then looked back up at Kyoya with another smile. _Not this time!_

Kyoya pushed up his glasses and turned away, for once not having any sort of intelligible silent comeback to give. He wasn’t well versed in any sort of look that could communicate what he was currently thinking now. He moved, or rather floated, to the nearest chair, dropping onto it without so much as a sound.

That wasn’t the warm fuzzies. It wasn’t mild affection or fondness or whatever other lie he had been telling himself for weeks now. And because Kyoya was Kyoya, he couldn’t ignore what was so blatantly obvious to him now. His reservations didn’t seem to matter that much in the wake of that understanding, apologies to both the assumed societal and familial expectations.

“Kyoya, I really think you should apologize because I…wait, what’s wrong, are you alright?”

Apologies to Tamaki, too. Really. Truly.

Kyoya nodded. “Yes, Tamaki, I’m completely fine.”

This was the truth for two reasons: he knew what his feelings were and they weren’t all that scary, and he knew that he was the type of person to chase after what he wanted.

He had more than the warm fuzzies.

He was definitely…just a little bit…in love with Haruhi Fujioka.

And she was what he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4 for you Kyoya, you go Kyoya.  
> Heading into uncharted territory here, but I actually want to continue this story! I have another chapter mostly planned out in my head already, so it shouldn't be too long before I get that up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Here's chapter 1" I said.  
> "I'll have the next one up really soon" I said.  
> Two months later.....  
> I have no excuse actually. It didn't take me that long when I actually sat down to write it!  
> Sorry for the wait, and thanks for reading!

It was Kyoya's business to know about people: Family friends, his father's many work associates, and fellow Ouran students alike. Kyoya had long since dug up and filed away information about all of them, no matter how insignificant. As his father always said, you never know what piece of information might become useful for business purposes, and since Kyoya was dutiful he lived his life abiding by his father's words. He knew a little about a lot of people, and he found over time that storing and recalling this information when necessary was satisfying and a small form of entertainment. Still, it didn't cause him to pursue additional information on any one individual or try to learn more about them on a personal level. He wasn't that interested in other people.

Well, except for Haruhi.

With all that he knew about the girl, it somehow was an irritatingly unsatisfying amount with the acknowledgement of his feelings for her. He found himself slightly desperate to know more, which was a feeling he had not previously felt before. Granted, he had desired to know more about his fellow host club members and did so by way of friendship, but still, it seemed different. He wasn't in love with any of them, of course.

He found himself wanting to know, well, everything about Haruhi, not just the useful tidbits of information. And for the first time, Kyoya didn't really want to use any of his sources to figure her out. He wanted to acquire it on his own. He wanted her to share it with him. And so Kyoya became more observant than ever before in Haruhi's presence.

But that didn't mean he didn't cheat sometimes.

"Ranka, please slow down, it's difficult to hear you wherever you are."

Kyoya sat in his room at his desk, phone to his ear, and listened as Haruhi's father shuffled around on the other line, clearly having a hard time keeping a grip on the phone.

"Oh my, I'm sorry, Kyoya dear," the man said, slightly muffled. "I'm just at the store picking a few things up. Haruhi's been studying so hard today I thought I'd do something for her to help boost her morale. My little girl, such a bookworm. She works too hard, you know?"

"I know." Kyoya smiled at nothing in particular. "I can let you finish your shopping trip in peace if that would be easier?"

"No no, it's fine, I don't mind at all! You know how much I love our little weekly talks."

Kyoya did know. He had been calling Ranka every weekend since Haruhi first started at Ouran to give updates to her father. Originally, he had meant it to be only a social call for his own benefit, but Ranka had been so pleased that at least _someone_ was sharing about his daughter's day that he had encouraged him to update him once a week. Since it seemed like a Shadow King thing to do, Kyoya performed the job as he was asked.

Now that Kyoya knew that he had feelings for Haruhi, it was another chance to gain information about her. Subtly, of course, as he didn't think making his intentions clear was a wise choice. Kyoya could only imagine how that would go over _. Ranka I’m in love with your daughter and I just want to know everything about her. What's her favorite book? Did she have stuffed animals when she was a baby? Why does she smell like instant coffee all the time and why do I like it so much..._

"You're such a gentleman, Kyoya, and I appreciate that," Ranka continued. "Now where is the-ah, here it is! Strawberry ice cream."

Kyoya swiveled his desk chair towards the opposite wall. "Strawberry ice cream?"

"Yeah, I'm making sundaes. Strawberry is her favorite. Mine is chocolate so I'll get some of that too. Although I don't know if we have room in the freezer for both of them...oh, I should buy some whip cream too OH and some-"

As Ranka rambled about which sundae toppings he should buy, Kyoya continued to participate in the conversation with "yes's" and "mhm's" when appropriate, but his attention was fixed on this new fact Ranka had graciously dropped into Kyoya's lap. Haruhi liked strawberry ice cream. Somehow that didn't surprise him.

And yet, he found it incredibly endearing all the same.

 *-*

It was a week later when Kyoya decided to make his own observations about this New Haruhi Fact he had learned. Notebook in hand, he sat on the couch in the host club room after hours, paying very little attention to the various activities of the other hosts. Eyes glued to the pages of his notebook, he didn't notice anyone coming up to him, but the faint smell of instant coffee made his heart beat a little quicker.

"Haruhi, you aren't trying to read my notes, are you?" he asked the girl now beside him on the couch.

"Vanilla, Rocky Road, Chocolate....what's all that for?" She asked in response as she leaned toward his notebook, ignoring his own question.

"Ranking ice cream flavors," he told her.

"Ranking ice cream flavors," Haruhi repeated in a tone that said she wasn't convinced Kyoya would involve himself in such a task. "And...what have you decided?"

Kyoya pushed up his glasses. "Well it's rather subjective, isn't it? But in my personal opinion, I like simple flavored ice cream, like vanilla or pecan. It's much too sweet when you have flavors like chocolate, or strawberry, or birthday ca-"

"I love strawberry!" Haruhi interrupted, turning to face him on the couch, eyes wide with excitement.

Kyoya allowed himself a small smile. "Do you, now?

"Yeah, it's the best!" Haruhi smiled then, and the excitement in her eyes softened to something else. "I had some the other day."

Kyoya allowed himself to admire the look on the girl's face for a moment, knowing that she was probably thinking about the sundae she had with Ranka. "Did you?"

"Mhm," Haruhi replied wistfully.

 _Cute._ "We should get some," Kyoya said without thinking, and then froze immediately. Did he just accidentally ask Haruhi out on a date? To get ice cream? That wasn't what he meant to happen. How mortifying.

Fortunately, Haruhi was dense, as usual. "But you don't like strawberry ice cream," she said, head cocked slightly to the side.

"Oh w-well I, um," Kyoya stuttered, feeling uncharacteristically awkward. "I just meant in general. That we should have ice cream. As a host club."

"Ice cream?!" Honey squealed, running up to them with Mori in toe. "Can we have an ice cream party?"

"We shall have an ice cream social for our guests!" Tamaki proclaimed loudly from across the room, as if he had been thinking about the idea for a while. Kyoya assumed that he probably had. "We will have every flavor of ice cream there possibly is! And we'll have music and dancing! And fireworks!"

"Fireworks," Haruhi repeated, looking at the blonde incredulously. "What do we need fireworks for?"

"My dear Haruhi, you don't think big enough!" He leaned down and tapped her on the nose. "What event is complete without fireworks, I ask you?”

Haruhi rubbed at her nose. "You're ridiculous.”

Tamaki shrieked in response. "You wound me, Haruhi! But how wrong you are. Our guests deserve the absolute best, and that obviously includes fireworks! And fireworks they shall have! Do we have any left? Hikaru, Kaoru, where do we buy our fireworks from? I could have sworn..." He walked off, still talking at the two twins about his plans.

Kyoya chuckled, already mentally calculating the budget for this new scheme Tamaki was cooking up. His gaze then fixed on Haruhi, who was staring after Tamaki with an expression Kyoya couldn't identify. Before he could decipher it, she turned back to face him.

"Make sure there's strawberry?"

Kyoya struggled to keep up his ever-present composure as he felt himself melt. He cleared his throat in an attempt to hide it.

"Yes, Haruhi, I promise you there will be strawberry."

Instantly, she smiled widely and sincerely. "Thanks, Kyoya."

He couldn't stop himself from returning the smile in equal measure. "Of course."

*-*

Kyoya sat in the backseat of the car, silently stewing in his remaining irritation as his driver made the way back towards his home. It had been a long day, and he couldn't wait to get back so that he could immediately fall into bed once again. He hadn't meant to even leave it in the first place, and if that bastard Tamaki and the other boys hadn't dragged him away from the warmth of his bed half asleep and to the commoner's department store, he might still be there now. Thanks to his idiot friend, he had gotten lost and had no way of fixing the matter. At least he had gotten to spend the day with Haruhi.

He winced at that thought, knowing that he had been too tired and too irritated to enjoy that part, and had behaved less than pleasantly toward her because of it. At least he could enjoy it in hindsight.

_You and Tamaki are very different._

_That's not what Tamaki would do._

Alright, so he couldn't enjoy all of it.

Haruhi had basically scolded him for his behavior at times, especially after his explanations for his motivation behind helping the woman in dealing with the fake pottery vendor and how he operated around their mutual friends. But he couldn't help it, it was just the way of things in his world. And why on earth did it matter if that wasn't how Tamaki would handle things? He wasn't Tamaki, which was probably a good thing. The world probably couldn't handle too many people with Tamaki's almost naive trust in and willingness to help every random stranger with a sob story. Kyoya could admire it, in a way, but he definitely couldn't afford to behave in the same manner. But he could understand how it might be difficult for Haruhi to understand that.

He sighed, fogging up the window he sat staring out of. Really though, why so many comparisons to Tamaki? What did that mean? She was so sure of how Tamaki would act, it almost made him a little jealous at how well she assumed she knew him. Almost. Kyoya was too tired to feel much else besides that.

Still, he could comfort himself with the fact that she had left him with her own take on his motivations for his actions, claiming he was, in fact, a genuinely caring person deep down.

He couldn't say whether that was right or not, but knowing that she assumed the best of him made him feel warm and cared about, and he would much rather hold onto that feeling than any of the others.

*-*

"Hikaru, quit touching that, it might break."

Kyoya watched as the boy pulled his hand away and turned toward Haruhi, who was walking out of her kitchen into the living room with a plate of cookies. He gave her a sly smile.

"You're the one who breaks vases, dear Haruhi, not me."

She set the tray down in the middle of the circle of host club boys, and Mori reached for two and gave one to Honey, who immediately stuck the whole thing in his mouth. Mori gave him the other.

"Oh, well now you don't get any of these," Haruhi said back to Hikaru, sitting down on the floor beside his brother. She picked up a cookie and handed it pointedly to Kaoru, who took it with a chuckle.

"You don't mean that," said Hikaru, coming to sit on her other side.

"Sure I do," she replied, but she made no move to stop him as he reached for one. "Where did Tamaki go?" She asked, sounding slightly concerned about the possible answer.

Kyoya watched as Hikaru leaned behind Haruhi's back and wiggled his eyebrows at Karou, who threw a crumb back at him. "He went to the bathroom," he told her, slightly amused by the twins' antics. "He was talking about going to the park down the road."

Haruhi looked up at him. "Why?"

"He said he heard there was supposed to be a festival there this evening and he wanted to go in order to 'observe real commoner entertainment'."

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't call it that. I've been to that festival before, and it's the least fun one that the town holds."

"So let's just not go, then," Kaoru piped up, grabbing another cookie off the tray.

"But you know how Tamaki gets when he doesn't get his way."

"The King whines all the time, though," Hikaru said. "It's not like-"

"We aren't used to it," Kaoru finished.

"It won't be just the whining though. He'll give the puppy dog eyes," Haruhi grumbled.

Kyoya looked intently at her, as did everyone else. "Puppy dog eyes?" Honey asked.

"Yeah, when he wants something bad enough and he gives you that look that makes you melt and you can't say no."

Kyoya felt a squeeze in his chest. _It makes you...melt?_

Hikaru squinted his eyes at her. "You've said something similar before. Have a lot of experience, do you?"

Kyoya didn't miss the slightly jealous tone in Hikaru's words, and he definitely didn't miss the concerned look Kaoru sent his brother's way.

"Don't you do everything Tamaki asks of you?" Haruhi replied.

Hikaru looked away and shrugged. "Not because I'd melt otherwise," he said with a grumble.

At that moment, Tamaki came back into the room. "Who is melting? What are we talking about?" He asked, sitting beside Kyoya.

"The festival," Kyoya replied distractedly as he watched Haruhi get up from her spot. He heard her mumble about forgetting something in the kitchen as she passed him.

Tamaki squealed in delight. "Oh yes, the festival! Can we go? I think we should go. I heard someone talking about it outside when we arrived, and they didn't say anything about fireworks, but still, I think...

Kyoya didn't really listen to the rest. Instead, he watched as Kaoru threw a cookie at Hikaru, and as the frown fell off of Hikaru's face when he chucked one back at his brother. He also watched Mori watching Honey, who was eating what might have been his sixth cookie. And he did all of this while refusing to think about anything else. After a minute, Haruhi came back into the living room and sat back down between the twins.

She didn't bring anything back with her.

And they all went to the festival that night.

*-*

"You're writing all of this down, right Kyoya? I don't want to forget anything. The costumes, the props, the music. And there _will_ be fireworks!"

Kyoya stood with his pen poised over his notebook, and ignored the sound of squealing girls as he tried to keep up with his friend's demands. It was difficult to do during host club hours.

"Yes, Tamaki, I have all of it down."

"Seriously, what is it with you and fireworks?" Haruhi asked from beside Kyoya. "Does your family own stock in it or something?"

Tamaki stopped pacing in front of them. "Haruhi, host club events should be magic. And I can think of nothing more magical than fireworks." He stepped forward until he was standing directly in front of her and then leaned down close to her face. "Can you think of anything more magical than an evening filled with romance that ends with you watching fireworks under a starlit sky with an extremely handsome boy?"

Haruhi blinked. "Um...no?"

Tamaki winked then, and stepped back to face them both. "Of course you can't, because there isn't anything more magical!"

He whirled around dramatically and walked toward a group of girls who were waiting for him on a cluster of couches. He greeted them with a line that Kyoya couldn't hear but that apparently did the trick, as they all immediately swooned as soon as he sat down.

"He's so weird," Haruhi said, staring after him.

Kyoya chuckled and looked down at the still open notebook. "Perhaps, but he is the Host Club King after all, and he knows best. Fireworks are expensive, but I'm sure that we have enough room in our budget that we could acquire some. It does sound like a rather entertaining evening, don't you think, Haruhi?"

There was no answer. Kyoya looked up from the page to find the girl still standing there, but clearly not paying attention.

"Haruhi?"

She made no indication that she heard him. He followed her line of sight and realized she was staring towards the group of girls Tamaki was busy talking to. Except she wasn't looking at them.

She was looking at Tamaki.

"So...weird," he heard her mumble quietly.

Kyoya searched her face. Her head was cocked to the side as if she was confused about something, but he noticed a faint blush coloring her cheeks, and her eyes shone with something that was definitely not confusion.

And Kyoya understood immediately.

"Haruhi," he said again, unable to hide the pain in his words.

Haruhi jumped and turned toward him quickly, the blush more apparent on her cheeks from this angle. "Huh? I'm sorry Kyoya, I didn't hear what you said."

Kyoya gave a small smile, feeling like it took a lot of effort to do so. "Nothing Haruhi, it isn't important."

"No really, Kyoya, what? Something about fireworks? Right?"

Kyoya watched as her eyes darted to the side when Tamaki's laugh floated over from the couch. They were back on his in an instant, but it only solidified what Kyoya already knew, and perhaps had known for a while.

Haruhi was in love with Tamaki.

And she probably wasn't aware of it, but he assumed someday she would be. It was only a matter of time.

He pushed up his glasses and then put his hand on her shoulder as he stepped around her.

"It was really nothing, Haruhi, I was really just talking to myself."

Feeling like it might keep his heart in one piece for the moment if he did, he squeezed her shoulder briefly and then walked off, leaving Haruhi staring after him for a moment before she went off to perform her own responsibilities, feeling no differently than she had before.

Unlike Kyoya, who, with his nose buried in his notebook in a corner of the room, tried to pretend that he wasn't feeling anything at all.

When he returned home that evening, he ignored both school and business and let himself feel everything that came with learning that the love he felt wasn't returned. And though he deeply wished things were different and he didn’t have to feel this way at all, he went to bed with only one thought on his mind:

He couldn't possibly resent either Tamaki or Haruhi for any of this. He loved them both too much. And he would silently root for the both of them.

God knows his two dense friends probably needed all the help they could get.

*-*

Kyoya sat at his desk at school the next day before anyone else arrived, head down on the table, weary from the night before.

Apparently it was exhausting having your heart broken. Who knew?

He picked his head up when he heard footsteps enter the room.

"Good morning, Kyoya, any luck with the fireworks?"

Kyoya groaned. "Not yet Tamaki, but I assure you I've got it covered."

"Woah, Kyoya, you look terrible!" Tamaki told him as he sat down at the desk in front of him, concern etched onto his face. "Are you ok?"

"Long night," Kyoya responded truthfully. He rubbed his eyes. "But I'm fine."

"If you say so," Tamaki said, turning backwards in his seat and leaning forward onto Kyoya's desk. "Anyway, I was thinking about the costumes for tomorrow's host club theme and I think we should go with the ones I showed you last week. Remember?"

"You show me a lot of costumes, Tamaki. Almost daily."

"Kyoya," Tamaki whined, drawing out his name. "The white ones! You remember."

"Vaguely," Kyoya replied with disinterest.

Tamaki huffed. "I'll show you later." He turned around in his seat with one fluid motion, and Kyoya wondered, as he often did, how someone could be that dramatically graceful. He then heard the boy sigh wistfully. "I think Haruhi will look cute in it."

Kyoya tried not to wince. He didn't really succeed, but Tamaki obviously couldn't tell. "I guess," he replied, trying to continue to sound disinterested through the pain in his chest.

"You guess?" Tamaki turned back around to face him. "Come on, Kyoya, don't you think Haruhi is cute?"

 _Absolutely. Very cute. Painfully so._ "Objectively."

"You're so funny, Kyoya. I think she's very cute." He paused, then, and looked down at Kyoya's desk. "But I guess that's normal. Fathers probably do think their daughters are cute."

_For the love of-_

 Irritated, Kyoya leaned over and grabbed Tamaki's tie. Tamaki yelped as Kyoya pulled him forward, a scowl on his face.

"Tamaki, don't be an idiot," he growled.

"W-what? Kyoya, let go! I'm not an idiot-"

"You are! And there will come a time when you have to decide to stop being such a dense moron and pursue what you want. Promise me."

"Moron? What are you even-”

"Promise me!"

"Alright alright fine, Kyoya, I promise!"

Kyoya gave him a stern look, and then released him, leaning back into his own chair. "Good.”

Tamaki smoothed down his tie. "Geez, you're grumpy today." He turned back in his chair once more and slumped over, confused and put out. "I'm...not an idiot," he said quietly.

Kyoya knew that was only a little true. But for now it was fine. Tamaki would someday get his head out of the clouds and Haruhi would come to recognize feelings that weren't just platonic. Eventually. They would hopefully come to realize that the other person was something much different to them than they originally thought. Tamaki would be happy, Haruhi would be happy....

....and that's really all Kyoya wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gestures helplessly* I'm so sorry Kyoya!  
> This hurt me to write, and I didn't realize just how much it would when I had the idea! Maybe that's why I put it off so long. Ah, my poor son, you don't deserve this!  
> Thanks to anyone who reads this story!


End file.
